In
1996, Rolito Go was sentenced by the Pasig Regional Trial Court to reclusion
perpetua, or a maximum of 30 years imprisonment for the death of Eldon Maguan,
a La Salle Engineering student, in Greenhills, San Juan. Fast forward to
2012 (or sixteen years later): News reports say
that Go has been engaging in various business activities, ranging from
moneylending to mining, while staying inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in
Muntinlupa City. (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/251456/go-business-ranges-from-lending-firm-to-mining)
Now the question is, “Can he actually and legally engage in business while
in prison and serving his sentence?”
The
Revised Penal Code explicitly provides that the penalties of reclusion perpetua
(20 years and 1 day to 40 years) and reclusion temporal (12 years and 1 day
to 20 years) carry with them the accessory penalty, among others, of civil
interdiction.
The
Revised Penal Code states that, “Civil interdiction shall deprive the offender during the time of his sentence of the rights of parental authority, or
guardianship, either as to the person or property of any ward, of marital
authority, of the right to manage his property and of the right to dispose
of such property by any act or any conveyance intervivos.” Civil interdiction is a restriction on
capacity to act, according to the New Civil Code. A person suffering from the penalty
of civil interdiction is deemed, declares the Revised Rules of Court, an “incompetent.”
With the deprivation of his
right to manage his property or business being absolute and mandatory, how and
why Go was able to build and conduct his businesses inside the NBP, if indeed
it is true, is something that only its officials can explain.
